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I’m thrilled to be moderating a panel with the brilliant literary forces of nature Daniel José Older and Idra Novey this coming Monday as part of PEN America’s new “Out Loud” series at one of my favorite New York landmarks, Strand Bookstore. We’ll talk translation, travel, adapting to new cultures and feeling displaced within them, multilingualism, P.O.C representation in fantasy (or the fantasy of P.O.C. representation?) and more as part of this month’s theme: Boundaries and Borders. Please join!

Daniel José Older is the New York Times best-selling author of the YA series “Shadowshaper Cypher,” the “Bone Street Rumba” urban fantasy series, and the upcoming Middle Grade sci-fi adventure Flood City. He won the International Latino Book Award and has been nominated for the Kirkus Prize, the Mythopoeic Award, the Locus Award, the Andre Norton Award, and yes, the World Fantasy Award. Shadowshaper was named one of Esquire’s 80 Books Every Person Should Read. You can find his thoughts on writing, read dispatches from his decade-long career as an NYC paramedic, and hear his music at danieljoseolder.net and @djolder on Twitter.

Idra Novey is the author of the novel Ways to Disappear, winner of the Sami Rohr Prize, the Brooklyn Eagles Prize, and a finalist for the Los Angeles TimesFirst Fiction Award. She is also a translator from Spanish and Portuguese, most recently of Clarice Lispector’s novel The Passion According to G.H. Her fiction and poetry have been translated into 10 languages, and she’s written for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Paris Review.

Trends can be deceiving. Restless Books began as a digital publisher at a time (late 2013) when everyone seemed to be freaking out about eBooks. Since then, many of our paperless cohort have either shut down or adapted, as we have, by shifting to old-fashioned print publishing. So I would advise caution to anyone devising an Augmented Reality publishing platform (though I’d like to see them try it).

Speaking of booksellers, it’s gratifying to see independent bookstores doing so well. For all of our technology, storytelling is a human experience. The most effective avenue to book discovery has always been one person saying to another, “You have to read this.” Long may they prosper.

What book/genre/topic would you like to see cross your transom?

Even before the ominous rise of Donald Trump, we made immigration stories a special focus of our list. This year we awarded our first Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing to a fantastically gifted young writer out of Abu Dhabi named Deepak Unnikrishnan, for his novel Temporary People (out in March 2017). Next year we’ll be awarding $10,000 and publication to a nonfiction book by a first-time, first-generation American writer. Submissions open in September; see our prize page for details.

I’m thrilled that soon we’ll be breaking into international books for young readers. Too often when young people of color browse children’s or YA book sections, they don’t see their faces or their stories reflected in what’s on offer. Fostering a healthy global awareness—and book reading!—from an early age can only be a good thing.

Also, speaking as a sometime freelance editor: Aspiring writers who don’t read enough books. If you’re thinking of writing a book, read as many good books as you can, and pay attention. It’s the most important thing for any writer to do.

What is unique about your corner of the industry?

To someone who has worked for one of the “Big Five” publishers, the shift to independent publishing has come as a relief. It is an inescapable fact that the vast majority of books, taken individually, are not profitable. Yet the corporate ethos insists on year-over-year growth and profit, which (in addition to generating an atmosphere of fear and dread in-house) results in often-regrettable hail-mary bets and artistic compromises. It’s exciting to be part of a growing cohort of forward-thinking, independent publishers that, either through a non-profit structure or independent funding, are empowered to prioritize the quality and importance of a work over its potential profitability.

Anything else you’d like to add?

It’s a favorite pastime among book people to fret about the uncertain future of literature. I like to repeat a joke I first heard from Michael Pietsch, who has seen his share of highs and lows: “The second book to be published on the Gutenberg printing press was about the death of publishing.” We’re still here, everyone. Take a breath.

Nathan Rostron is the director of marketing of Restless Books. Previously, as an online editor, he helped to launch Bookish, an innovative book discovery website for readers. Prior to that, as a book editor at Little, Brown and Company, he edited several award winners and New York Times bestsellers. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Nathan holds a master’s in English and creative writing from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s in English from Pomona College.

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Join me in Austin for this year’s Texas Book Festival as I moderate a panel with two phenomenal authors: Jim Shepard and Viet Thanh Nguyen, in a conversation called Twisting History into Fiction:

“Take a look in history’s rearview mirror with Jim Shepard and Viet Thanh Nguyen as they consider the ways in which they twist war and history into fiction in their novels The Book of Aron and The Sympathizer. Moderated by Nathan Rostron.”

When: Saturday, October 17, 1:00pm

Where: Austin Capitol Extension Room E1.026

Viet Thanh Nguyen was born in Vietnam and raised in America. His stories have appeared in Best New American Voices, TriQuarterly, Narrative, and the Chicago Tribune. He is the author of the academic book Race and Resistance. He teaches English and American Studies at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles. Read more on his website.

Jim Shepard is the author of six previous novels and four story collections, including Like You’d Understand, Anyway, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and won The Story Prize. His short fiction has appeared in, among other magazines, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, McSweeney’s, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, Esquire, Tin House, Granta, Zoetrope, Electric Literature, and Vice, and has often been selected for The Best American Short Stories and The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories. He lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with his wife and three children and teaches at Williams College. Read more on his website.

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I’d love to see you at AWP! Restless Books will be at this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference, to be hosted at the Minneapolis Convention Center this week from Thursday through Saturday. I’ll be speaking with publishing luminaries Fiona McCrae of Graywolf Press, Jon Fine of Amazon, Deena Drewis of Nouvella, and Kevin Nguyen of Oyster, in a panel on “New Trends in Literary Publishing,” moderated by Jeffrey Lependorf of CLMP, the Council of Literary Magazines of Presses.

We’ll be talking about a host of issues facing literary publishing, including the changing landscape of digital publishing, new subscription models, longer/shorter formats, digital marketing, the rise self-publishing, and how traditional and new publishers are adapting to the changing climate.

More about the panelists:

Jeffrey Lependorf, CLMP’s Executive Director, has over twenty years of experience in development, fundraising, corporate sponsorship, and strategic planning. He serves as a “shared executive director” for Small Press Distribution (http://www.spdbooks.org). His past work experience includes Development Director for the Creative Capital Foundation, Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project, the Poetry Society of America, and In the Life Media. He is also a professional musician, active as a composer, a “certified master” of the shakuhachi (traditional Japanese bamboo flute), and serves as Director of Music Omi, an international music residency program in upstate New York. His Masterpieces of Western Music audiocourse is available through Barnes and Noble’s “Portable Professor” series.

Fiona McCrae has been publisher of Graywolf Press since 1994, following eleven years at Faber and Faber, in London, where she was a director and executive editor. At Faber and Faber, she worked with such authors as Kazuo Ishiguro, Caryl Phillips, and Howard Norman. In 1982, she moved to Boston to work with Faber and Faber USA. While there, McCrae taught publishing courses at Harvard University and Emerson College. Authors that McCrae has published at Graywolf include Elizabeth Alexander, Charles Baxter, Per Petterson, Salvatore Scibona, Percival Everett, and Binyavanga Wainaina. She currently serves on the board of Books for Africa and is an advisor for Open Letter Press.

Deena Drewis is the founder and editor of Nouvella, an independent press dedicated to novellas. She started Nouvella in 2011, and in the three years since, they’ve picked up a National Jewish Book Award and an Amazon Best Book of December pick, and helped launch the careers of New York Times bestsellers like Edan Lepucki and Emma Straub.

Nathan Rostron is the Director of Marketing at Restless Books, a new independent publisher of international literature, based in Brooklyn. We’re devoted to expanding the horizons of English-language readers with great books and important stories from around the world. Nathan oversees Marketing, Publicity, Sales, and Distribution for Restless. Previously, as an online editor, he helped to launch Bookish, an innovative book discovery website for readers. Prior to that, as a book editor at Little, Brown and Company, he edited several award winners and New York Times bestsellers.

Jon P. Fine is director of Author and Publisher Relations for Amazon.com, coordinating outreach to the author and publishing communities, including the company’s grant program which supports a diverse range of not-for-profit author and publisher groups dedicated to fostering the creation, discussion and publication of new writing and new voices (www.amazon.com/author-grants). He joined the company as Associate General Counsel for media and copyright in January 2006, and subsequently led business development for Brilliance Audio following its acquisition in 2007. Prior to joining Amazon.com, he served as VP and Associate General Counsel for Random House, Inc., where he directed legal affairs for the Alfred A. Knopf division as well as for Random House of Canada. He previously served as Senior Media Counsel at NBC, handling content and associated issues for NBC News, Saturday Night Live, MSNBC, CNBC and other divisions; as counsel at King World Productions for Inside Edition and other “reality-based” programming; and as a litigation associate at Debevoise & Plimpton, where he focused on copyright, libel, internet and other media-related matters.

Kevin Nguyen is the editorial director at Oyster and edits The Oyster Review. He writes regularly for Grantland and has been published online in The New Republic, The Paris Review, The Millions, and elsewhere.

Enough with the dead white men! Forget what you learned in school. Ever since Columbus–who was probably a converted Jew–“discovered” the New World, the powerful and privileged have usurped American history. The true story of the United States lies not with the founding fathers or robber barons, but with the country’s most overlooked and marginalized peoples: the workers, immigrants, housewives, and slaves who built America from the ground up and made this country what it is today.

A Most Imperfect Union, by Ilan Stavans

The event, which will also be broadcast on C-SPAN’s BookTV, will be from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm on Sunday, October 26, 2014 in the C-SPAN2/ Book TV Tent. The festival is held in downtown Austin, TX, along Congress Ave. and in the State Capitol building. I hope to see you there!

Join us for a reading and conversation between Smith Henderson, PEN Emerging Writer and highly acclaimed debut author of Fourth of July Creek, and Nathan Rostron, Director of Marketing at Restless Books.

A muscular, hugely ambitious literary debut set against the vivid backdrop of the Montana wilderness, Fourth of July Creek is the story of Pete Snow, a troubled social worker barely on the right side of the law, who tries to keep a dangerously paranoid survivalist from jeopardizing his family, even as Pete’s own family disintegrates.

“This book left me awestruck; a stunning debut which reads like the work of a writer at the height of his power… Fourth of July Creek is a masterful achievement and Smith Henderson is certain to end up a household name.” —Philipp Meyer, author of The Son

“Fourth of July Creek knocked me flat. This gorgeous, full-bodied novel seems to contain all of America at what was, in retrospect, a pivotal moment in its history…. Smith Henderson has delivered nothing less than a masterpiece of a novel.” —Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

“Fourth of July Creek cannot possibly be Smith Henderson’s first book. Its scope is audacious, its range virtuosic, its gaze steady and true. A riveting story written in a seductive and relentlessly authentic rural American vernacular, this is the kind of novel I wish I’d written.” —Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Battleborn

SMITH HENDERSON is the recipient of the 2011 PEN Emerging Writer Award in fiction, and was the Phillip Roth Resident in Creative Writing at Bucknell University the same year. His short story, “Number Stations,” won a Pushcart Prize and a finalist honors for the University of Texas Keene Prize, where he was a Michener Center for Writing Fellow. He currently works at the Wieden + Kennedy advertising agency, where he contributed to the Emmy-nominated “Halftime In America” Super Bowl Commercial. Born and raised in Montana, he now lives in Portland, Oregon.